On Tuesday, we traveled from Sebiu through hill country, through a torrential rainstorm, until we came to a gravel/mud road. Being in Romania, in many ways, is like going back in time 50 years. Once we turned off the main road onto this road less-traveled, we dialed back several centuries. A Gypsy village in Romania is something that must be seen to be believed, and then you’ll need to pinch yourself to ensure you’re not dreaming. It’s a cross between rural Appalachia, a Cajun village, and a Hollywood movie set – tiny, close built huts along a mud road, lined by fences of wire, wood slats, sticks, pipe, and anything that can be used to create a barrier. The fences are not used so much to keep people out, but to keep the 2 or 3 dogs, chickens, hogs, turkeys, geese, goats, and small children, in. Men, women and children are attired in everything from the brightly colored traditional dress, to Nike t-shirts and modern business clothes. In the waning evening sunlight, villagers were gathered outside in groups to talk, sit, drink, laugh, work, and myriad other ways of enjoying the last daylight hours. The sheep across the valley were being gathered into the sheepfold for the night. Horses were being brought in from pasture. Children were playing games with sticks, stones, cats, and dogs, and sometimes throwing sticks and stones at the cats and dogs.
As is the case with most of Romania, it is a study in contrasts. It is not uncommon to see a shack composed of foraged materials sporting a satellite dish. The sound of Gypsy music wafts across the village from a boom box, and men and women pause from their work, cutting hay with a scythe to answer the distinctly modern ringtone of a cellphone. In another instance, we gathered with a crowd of villagers as they watched two young men attempt to navigate a horse drawn wagon full of fresh cut hay up a muddy road, urging the horse on with a well aimed lash on the backside. Shortly after, we had to step quickly out of the way when young men on horses galloped up the road chasing a colt. In the same evening, a young man sped past on his new motor scooter.
The typical village wagon is a study in contrasts itself. A V-shaped wooden trough, mounted on an iron frame with auto tires is the usual configuration. Because the terrain is hilly, brakes are a necessity. Horses don’t work as well holding a heavy load back, when pulling (or being pushed) downhill, as they do pulling uphill, so braking on downhill terrain is crucial to avoid running over the horse.
Crude, but relatively effective hand brakes are engineered with a log fixed against either the front or rear pair of tires, and controlled by a hand lever such that applying the brakes presses the log against both tires.
The downside to this is that the log wears the tread off the tires; the upside is that a new brake job requires only to replace the worn-out log.
The Gypsies in this village call themselves Rudarii – hewers of wood – and can trace their heritage back over a thousand years to a westward migration of their people from the Indian sub-continent. In Romania, as well as most of Europe, Gypsies are discriminated against as the lowest class of people, and have a reputation for dishonesty. Some of this is deserved; some is the result of their position in society and means of survival. Culturally, Romania is known for corruption in government, business, and even the church, so there’s some unfair irony in the Romanian social hierarchy. If the Gypsies have a reputation for individual corruption, the Romanians have, in many instances, institutionalized it.
To understand the mission work among the Rudarii, one must understand the recent past of Romania, with regards to the Orthodox Church. Eighty-six percent of Romanians are Orthodox. To the Westerner, the implications of this aren’t immediately obvious, so a short review of history is needed. Although Romanians are culturally and ethnically Latin, and are closely related to the Italians , they are geographically located in the east of Europe, amidst Slavik nations. At the end of WWII, Romania was assigned to the Eastern, communist block, when Europe was divided amongst the allied powers. Throughout the centuries, each Romanian village has typically had an Orthodox church and priest, with the priest being the spiritual and political leader of the village. When the communists came to power, they used the structure already in place with the Orthodox church to their advantage and required the priests to inform on the people in their villages “or else”. Many priests chose the “or else” rather than betray their parishioners, and hundreds of priests were murdered across Romania. Those left behind chose to ally with the communists and act as an arm of the state police, similar to Russia‘s KGB. So on one hand, Romanians distrusted the priests, but on the other hand believed they held the power of eternal salvation over them. Although priests no longer spy on their people, they do wield much power. In many cases, they are an opposing force to sharing the gospel and bible teaching.
So what is God doing in this village? About seven years ago, a Rudarii named Gruia, was “on a drunk” when he met a Pentacostal Christian who led him to Christ. Shortly thereafter, Gruia went to the Pentacostal church in a nearby village and asked the pastor to please come and tell people in his village about Jesus. The pastor said “No, Gruia, you must go back and tell your people about Jesus”. So he did. And people were saved – about 35 total. So Gruia went back to the Pentacostal pastor and said “I have a group of Christians now – we need you to come and build a church”. The pastor told Gruia, he would need to find some land. So Gruia found a woman who was willing to donate part of her land. So Gruia went back to the pastor and said he had the people and the land, so he needed them to build a building. The pastor organized finances and labor and built a church, however he didn’t have time to preach or teach at the church, so he asked for volunteers from surrounding churches to teach the new Rudarii Christians. Unfortunately, the new teacher was not well grounded in an understanding of grace, but instead began to teach a legalism that crippled the new church. For example, he taught that women must wear dresses and headscarves, and that headscarves must be tied under the chin, rather than behind the neck, otherwise they were not true Christians. Internet and TV were sins, and if teaching was going to be done by TV videos, the screen must be covered, so the people could hear but not see any “graven images”.
At one point a list of 90 different “biblical sins” was passed around the village – an attempt to compile a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts. So the Gypsy village became somewhat of a spiritual stew with Gypsy mysticism, communist-tainted orthodoxy, and legalistic Pentecostalism, with a number of new believers trying to discern the truth.
Entering into this isolated world of incongruity, John and Cheryl Zumbrunn came to help at a mission center in the village. The mission building was orginally established by missionary Rim Soo Chung (now retired), who had a vision to establish a kindergarten for the Gypsies, and the mission is now serving as the state licensed kindergarten for the village. Gypsy children start primary school with Romanian children, but because of educational disadvantages, and because of prejudices, they are often ridiculed by the Romanian children and dropout rates are high. Through the work of the mission, they are given kindergarten classes starting at age three, where they get a jump start on various skills needed to bring them up to the same level as the Romanian children.
John and Cheryl maintain the facility and live amongst the Rudarii, seeking to serve as a living model of Jesus’ love to the Gypsies. They host bible studies, pray with them, and work with the Gypsies to teach life skills and biblical truth. To an isolated and shunned people, the Zumbrunns are showing compassion and care. And God is moving amongst the Gypsies. In addition to the original Christians several years ago, another 16 were baptized just recently. Gruia is actively involved with John to study the bible and correct many of the false teachings brought by the first teacher, who is not still involved with the village church. Grace is starting to take root, and while we were there on Tuesday night, Gruia told John the district mayor had noticed a positive change in the village due to the number of new Christians – less fighting, crime, and fewer problems overall. Some miraculous healings have occurred as an answer to specific prayers. We were told of a man in the village with a leg that was withered and unusable who was told by one of the Christians to pray for healing. He did and his leg filled out and he was able to use it again. Later, as we walked through the village, the man met us outside his shack. He was ecstatic to show us how he could now use the leg, and kept pointing upward, expressing how God had healed him. John also explained how a boy had recently fallen out of a tree. X-rays were taken and showed a fracture that would require surgery with screws, to repair the boys hip. Rudarii Christians prayed for the boy, and on the morning of surgery, the surgeon examined the boy and determined there was no need for surgery – the boys hip was no longer broken.
We asked the Zumbrunns what our church could do to help and they listed a number of prayer and practical requests.
1) They expressed loneliness on the mission field – a lack of fellowship with mature Christians who they can share their lives with. Please pray that God would supply this need, and consider whether God might be calling you to travel to this location to encourage and help at the mission.
2) Pray for the Orthodox priest who lives next door to the mission. His heart is very hard towards the mission and, ironically, towards the Gypsies in the village where he is serving. Please pray that the truth of the Gospel of Christ would penetrate and soften his heart.
3) Pray for help with the Zumbrunn’s teaching ministry. They need short term missionaries to come and teach the Gypsy children in life skills – cooking, art, music, English, bible studies, etc. It is often hard for Westerners to understand the importance we can play in the lives of these children. We are accustomed to diversity and tolerance, and fail to see how our presence can help. For these children, they rarely see anyone other than Gypsies who will accept them, so simply being there and receptive to building relationships with them is a tremendous benefit to opening the doors for sharing Christ. Consider whether God may be calling you to play a part in teaching and loving these children.
4) Pray for Gypsy ministries such as the Zumbrunn’s to be established in other villages.
Saturday morning, as we drove down the alleyway at the back of the house we were going to visit, we looked ahead, and there were several children standing expectantly at the gate. There was no doubt which residence housed Mia’s Children! We were met with sweet cordiality, escorted into the house by half a dozen kids or so, each one shaking our hands and making introductions on the way. We were overwhelmed by their kindness and struck by their self assurance. Were these the “abandoned children” we’d heard about??? As we came into the house, we were warmly greeted by Mia Scarlat, or Auntie Mia, as she refers to herself with the children. She tenderly introduced us to her husband, Costel, and then we began to hear about this extraordinary ministry. 
Here’s a few of the travelers in the Paris airport, waiting for the next leg of our journey from Paris to Bucharest – Stan, Kathy, and Marlin.
